Hino discusses the changes for Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle after E3
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: Getting back to the Professor Layton series, once, during E3 last year, you declared that you’d remake Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle. Does this mean that, since E3, the standard for the course of action you should take with regard to the Nintendo 3DS system has changed as far as you’re concerned?
Hino: The Professor Layton series was originally a 2D game, so Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle at E3 was made to look pseudo-3D. But when I saw what other companies were releasing at E3, I started to wonder if that would really be all right. If I were a customer, and I were buying software at the same time as a Nintendo 3DS system, I’d want it to be software that utilized the hardware’s unique qualities.
Iwata: Software released on the same day as hardware has a mission to show customers what they’re able to do with this hardware that they couldn’t have done with previous models.
Hino: That’s right. So I think it wouldn’t have sold that way at all. I mean, first, you want to really show off the 3D! You want to buy something that will make people go “Whoa!” when you show them your Nintendo 3DS system.
Iwata: Very true. That’s why the first customers buy things, after all: to make people say “Whoa!”
Hino: Well, you know, no matter how good the story is, you can’t exactly brag about that.
Iwata: Not to mention that if they bragged about the story, people who haven’t played would treat them as nuisances. (laughs) Unless they see the images that the Nintendo 3DS system has made possible, you won’t be able to utilize the chance inherent in a simultaneous release.
Hino: Right. So I thought I’d have to remake the Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle into something more “whoa”-worthy. I’m glad I saw those other products at E3. If I hadn’t, it would have been something completely different. The background looks like anime, but it’s all in 3D. The volume of the content is also at its finest, and I think it’s the best Professor Layton game yet.
